(Untitled)

[never_b_free]

The woman who has been introducing herself as Sarah (here, at least) is at a table rolling around a jar containing three white ... slug things. Also at the table is a notepad, a pencil, a mug of beer, and a meat pie

Comments

[seat_five_girl]

"Hello Sarah-san."

Ako is more worried about what Sarah-san has in the jar after the exploding tribbles last time.

[never_b_free]

The sluglings don't actually have faces but somehow they manage to make puppy dog eyes at Ako.

"Help us!" they say. "We're hungry!"

"Shush, or you will wind up as dinner." Sarah says as she taps on the glass with the pencil. "Or rum." This is one of those rare instances when she is suppressing her mental defenses. Braindead sluglings will do her no good. Not right now.

"Hi Ako," she says with a smile.

[seat_five_girl]

Ako leans over to look at the jar.

"What are these?"

[never_b_free]

"Sea slugs. Young ones, but then again, the older ones aren't seen in the wild anymore."

Either they are too wily to get caught, or there is a predator out there keeping them from getting too big. She doesn't know. The sea is icky and wet. Full of yummy fish, but icky and wet.

"Troublesome little things. Even this young they can put thoughts into your head."

"Nuh uh, we are just talking. We have mouths that can talk and the cutest little faces? See?"

Sarah gives them another warning tap on the glass.

[seat_five_girl]

Ako jerks back.

"Eep! That's not good at all!"

Ako's been in different bodies enough to know that all she has is her thoughts really. Being in D0G-san's body really drove that one home.

[never_b_free]

"Oh, no, not good at all."

She looks away from Ako. Part of the reason she is being punished was doing the same exact thing. On a massive scale. To people who should have been dead a long time before she disturbed their rest.

"I am studying them because I think I may have to kill several of them, soon. Bigger ones than this, though."

[seat_five_girl]

"...I'd have said fire but you said these are sea slugs," says Ako.

Mind manipulating is uncool. Deeply uncool.

[never_b_free]

"Oh... fire is wonderful! Of course you have to dry them out first. Fire can do that!"
Mutual interests. It appears they have them.

"Or salt! How could I forget? Of course the are sea slugs, so they are used to some salt, but not this much." She slides the salt shaker close to the jar and the slugs recoil in horror.

Then she reconsiders. "That's going to be a lot of salt to carry around."

[seat_five_girl]

"How much bigger?"

Maybe Ako could just stun them a little. Hardly anyone would notice.

[never_b_free]

"Umm, probably a bit longer than I am tall and... half as big around as this table."

[seat_five_girl]

"That would be an awful lot of salt," agrees Ako, "Where are you going to run into these sort of things?"

[never_b_free]

"You are from Earth, correct? It is a place called Mongolia." Probably not the same Earth. Ako would have said something about the antlions by now.

You know, the big ones.

[seat_five_girl]

Anything like that is probably in parts of her setting that Ako doesn't know about.

Like fortresses torn out of remote areas of Africa and stuffed into glass jars say.

"Well that's supposed to be pretty dry I think," says Ako, "So fire might still work."

[never_b_free]

She hums contentedly. "Excellent!" That is the best news she has gotten since Dr. Freeman confirmed the Combine soldiers don't wear fire retardant armor.

Fire fire fire, fire solves everything. Things being burnt counts as a solution always.

[seat_five_girl]

It does! Mostly.

"Is there anything to protect against the mind control abilities?"

[never_b_free]

She thinks. Beyond her unusual mental defenses (DON'T POKE MY BRAIN OR I WILL EAT YOU!)... "Hmm, I don't know. Maybe if the mind in question was already being controlled by something else?"

Hmm... could she preemptively hypnotize everyone in the party? She doesn't see how she could get away with such a thing.

Wait, she can do it here! Hypnotize everyone, one by one. And when expedition time comes !INSTAZOMBIE TIME! For the good of the party!

But controlling all those people is going to be a distraction from all the real fun.

No. Too much work, not enough reward. They'll just have to go in unprotected.